


Uncle Mac

by Imcalledzorro



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Babysitting, Episode: s03e16 Lidar + Rogues + Duty, Gen, pre tag to Lidar+Rogues+Duty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imcalledzorro/pseuds/Imcalledzorro
Summary: Mac is summoned to emergency babysitting duties, just a day with Mac and his favorite twins
Comments: 15
Kudos: 25





	Uncle Mac

**Author's Note:**

> Hey yall! I don't know about you, but I could really used a new episode of two! But since that isn't happening soon, I'll just settle for some good fic! After they introduced Reese's twins I just knew that Mac would be the best surrogate Uncle ever, and wanting to write a little one shot. Well it isn't so little, but I quite like it, and I hope you do too! I couldn't have done it without my amazing beta, bkworm4life4, she is amazing. Thanks!! I also don't own MacGyver. 
> 
> Some words have been misspelled on purpose to reflect how children speak.

The ringing of his cell phone brought Mac out of a deep and dreamless sleep. Groggily he looked at his watch it was only 5:31 in the morning. He had just gotten to bed a couple of hours ago, after a long de-briefing, after an even longer mission. ‘ _Please don’t let this be an emergency at the Phoenix’_ he silently wished, knowing good and well that it had to be some kind of an emergency for someone to be calling this early. As his phone let out another loud ring, he guessed he better see who it was. Not bothering to look at the caller ID he hit the accept button and rasped, “Lo.”

“Oh thank goodness you picked up Mac! It’s Reese.” Rob Reese was a co-worker at the Phoenix. They were working together on a project where fighter jets could use LiDAR to map the ground at top speeds. Mac forced himself to sit up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He needed coffee and he needed it now, so stumbling out of bed he unsteadily made his way to the coffee machine in the kitchen. “I hate to ask you to do this since ya’ll just got back, but is there any way that you can come over and watch the twins? Rose’s dad just had a heart attack back home, and my sister is on her way but she can’t get in until tonight. We have to leave to catch our flight in about an hour and we desperately need someone to watch them until Kimber can get here.”

Mac watched as the coffee drained into his cup from the Keurig, it was one of the things that Bozer forbade Mac to mess with. “Yeah, sure dude. Whatever you need. I’ll uhh….” Mac had to think. “I’ll get dressed and head right over.”

The relief was evident in Reese’s voice. “Thanks, man! I know the kids will be glad to see their Uncle Mac.”

Mac yawned, “No problem, I’ll see you in a bit.” Hanging up the phone he took a couple swigs of his coffee and relished the warmth as it ran through him, looking at his watch he realized that if he hurried he could get in a quick shower. He sniffed under his arm, _‘Yep definitely need that shower’_ he thought. Walking through his room he gathered some clothes to wear and started the shower with cool water. He had read about several studies on the most effective way to wake a person up and a cool shower proved most effective. Stripping off his shirt he bit back a moan when his stiffened muscles protested. Looking into the mirror he winced at all the bruising that his battered body had received. He did not recommend going toe to toe with a heavyweight. Grudgingly he knocked back two Advil, because he knew that he would be hurting later and he had learned from experience that the twins were very tactile kids and would be all over him. Draining the coffee he quickly bathed, dried, and got dressed. Feeling much more awake he grabbed a few things to take with him, left Bozer a note, made some more coffee this time in his thermos, and took some food to eat on the way.

Twenty minutes later he pulled up in front of the Reese household. The door flew open as he approached it; Rose stood in the doorway. She hugged him as soon as he crossed the threshold, “Oh my gosh, thank you _so much_!” She stepped back and wiped a tear away. “We don’t know much yet, so I’m trying not to panic.”

Reese came up and slipped an arm around his wife’s shoulders giving her a kiss on her forehead, “Don’t worry honey, your dad’s strong, he’ll be ok.” She nodded and then walked back into the house. Reese looked at Mac and said, “Come on in. You know where everything is, and Rose is writing down a list for the kids.” He let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his already tousled hair. “I’m leaving my keys in case you need to go anywhere, that way you don’t have to worry about the kid’s seats; Rose is leaving the password for the apps and the kid’s iPad. Just order whatever you want for lunch and again if you’re still here for supper, but there are some leftovers, maybe even some of my gumbo, and all sorts of crap that the kids like in the fridge.” Reese stopped and looked overwhelmed.

Mac laid a hand on Reese’s shoulders, “Take a deep breath. We’ll be fine here, don’t worry about the kids. You might want to worry about me, but the kids will be fine, and I promise not to let anything explode.” The little joke worked and Reese smiled a bit.

“Seriously man, you don’t know how much I appreciate this!” gratitude oozed from Reese. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, and slipped Mac five twenties.

Mac tried to hand the money back, “Reese, no. I can’t take your money for doing something that you would do for me in a heartbeat.”

“You’re keeping it. It is the very least I can do. I know ya’ll just got back from a hard mission, but I couldn’t think of anybody else that the kids would be comfortable with. They keep asking when you’re going to come over for another ‘sleep over’.”

“Fine,” Mac said grudgingly. “But don’t be surprised if the kid’s birthday present next month costs around a hundred dollars, in fact I seem to remember that I saw this excellent kid’s science lab that I think they would love.”

Rose came back into the room holding a list and her suitcase. “The Uber should be here in about ten minutes to pick us up.”

“Okay, I’ll go grab my stuff.” Reese left the room.

“Come into the kitchen Mac, and I’ll show you what all I’ve laid out.” Mac followed her into the neat modern kitchen. She stopped at the island where an iPad was resting along with some other assorted kid’s items. Setting the list down she turned to Mac, “So I’ve tried to list everything that I thought you might need.” She pointed at the food, “The kids usually like cereal, yogurt, and a banana for breakfast. All you have to do is just help them with pouring the cereal and the milk they’ve got everything else. I’ve written down all of the passwords for the electronics and this iPad has the family’s food delivery apps on it. Feel free to order whatever ya’ll want. Any questions feel free to text or call us.” She looked at her watch, “They probably won’t be up for another couple of hours so drink in the peace and quiet while it lasts, you know how it is with them.” She threw her arms around him and hugged him again, “Thank you so much.” Her phone chimed and she broke the embrace, looking at the device she called out, “Uber’s here.” With another, ‘Thanks Mac!’ they were quickly out the door.

Mac read over the instructions that Rose had left for him. It was mainly the numbers of family members that he might need, passwords for apps, what the kids liked to do, and a very vague schedule. Still feeling tired despite the coffee that he had consumed he decided to head into the living room to see what was on TV at this hour of the morning. The room was dimly lit making the space feel warm and cozy. He flipped on the TV putting the volume just above a whisper as not to wake the kids. He loved their couch. When he had stayed with them for a month, while the water line was being fixed at his house, it was where he had chosen to lounge instead of down in the basement apartment. When Rose had asked him why he preferred to stay up there with all the kid’s noise, he had told her it was because he enjoyed the company and it was too quiet down in the guest room all by himself. He knew that he could have easily crashed with either Riley or Jack, but Jack had had family in from out of town for the first two weeks, and after that Mac had been settled in here pretty well, and well, Riley’s place was just too small and crowded which made the thought of sleeping on her couch for a month not appealing to him at all. Bozer had been fortunate and had been able to spend the month with Leanna. As Mac’s thoughts drifted, he was asleep before he even realized it.

“Uncle Mac!” was all the warning he got before a small body body-piled on top of him. Little arms wrapped around his neck and a hot breath tickled his ear, “What’s you doing here?” Cassie Reese asked. Mac opened his mouth to answer, but a large yawn escaped. Cassie giggled, “I think I sawed all the way down his throat!”

Her twin Kyle leaned in on the other side of Mac and demanded, “Do it again, I wanna see!” Grabbing a twin with each arm Mac ticked their sides as he picked them up and carried them into the kitchen setting them down beside the table. They shrieked with laughter, and climbed up into their seats. “Are you making us breaktus?” Kyle asked.

Before Mac could answer him Cassie jumped in with her own question, “Where are Mommy and Daddy? They were here when we went to sleep.”

Placing the bowls and cereal in front of them Mac explained, “Mommy and Daddy had to go and visit your grandpa and your Aunt Kimber can’t be here until later. So they asked me to come visit with you guys until she gets here, is that ok?”

Kyle nodded and concentrated on pouring his cereal, while Cassie screeched, “Aunt Kimber’s coming? Whoo-hoo!!” Sitting up on her knees she told Mac, “Auntie K is the best! She lets me play in her make-up so I look all pretty and sparkly!”

Frowning Kyle said, “Yeah, and lasted time you tried to put that lip stuff on me!” Cassie covered her mouth and giggled. Mac shook his head.

“Ok guys, let’s get finished with breakfast so that we can do some fun stuff today.” Mac said cheerfully as he placed a banana and two cups of yogurt on the table then filled their cereal bowls with milk.

Cassie shoveled in a mouthful of cereal and tried to speak. Her twin glared at her, “Mommy said chew, swallow _then_ speak.”

She stuck out her tongue, “I asked Uncle Mac if we were going to do a chemical reaction again? That was so much fun last time!” Kyle nodded in agreement.

“We’ll see.” Then it popped into his head what Jack said always worked with his nephew, bribery. “Tell you what, you two behave and do what I ask, when I ask, with no arguing or complaining and then we’ll do something like that after lunch.”

“Whoo-hoo!” Cassie cheered, almost knocking her milk over. Mac caught it and scooted it away from her failing arms, just to be on the safe side. After that the kids settled down to eat digging into their yogurts and cereal. Mac helped himself to a banana, and debated with himself if gumbo counted at breakfast food. Jack would argue yes, and Bozer would argue no. As he was contemplating this his train of thought was interrupted by his cell phone ringing.

Seeing that it was Jack, he answered, “What’s up old man?”

Ignoring Mac’s insult Jack asked, “Where are you at? I was thoughtful and brought us some breakfast so that we could start our day off right, but you are nowhere to be found mi amigo.”

“I’m at Reese’s house.” He started to tell Jack about Rose’s dad, but remembered that there were listening ears in front of him. Covering the phone, he told the twins, “I’ve got to go tell my friend something really quick so you guys behave and keep on eating, OK?” After the twins acknowledged him, Mac then went into the living room and said to Jack. “Sorry the kids were listening. Rose’s dad had a heart attack so they are flying back home to see him and handle everything and Reese’s sister can’t get here until later. So they called Uncle Mac in.”

Jack chuckled, “You have fun with those two, and don’t come crying to me when they tie you up and leave you in a closet.”

Laughing Mac replied, “Not all kids are your heathen cousins, and you could have gotten out of it if you had wanted to.”

“Tomato, toma-to,” Jack quoted. “Bye.”

“Hey wait!”

“Yeah, Hoss?”

“Is gumbo considered a breakfast food?”

“Any food is breakfast food; didn’t I learn you nothing in the Army?” Jack said in mock exasperation. “Bye.”

Pocking his phone Mac had his way back into the kitchen where apparently the twins had decided that they were finished with their food, because they weren’t there. A giggle came from behind the island in the kitchen. When he turned around two little figures jumped out “Boo!” They shrieked.

Dramatically grabbing his chest Mac staggered back, “Oh my goodness don’t scare me like that.”

Cassie giggled again and scrambled back up in her chair. Kyle looked at Mac skeptically, “Did I really scare you? Like for real, real?”

Mac tried to keep a straight face as he replied, “Like for real, real.”

“Good!” Then he too went back to eating his breakfast. Mac quickly heated up the gumbo and quickly polished it off while the twins ate their more traditional breakfast. The rest of breakfast was free of any accidents, a fact which Mac was very thankful for. When they were finished the kids grabbed their breakfast dishes and put them in the sink without any prompting from Mac.

“Can we have a chemical reaction now?” Kyle asked, while Cassie pulled out the puppy dog face.

“Not yet,” Mac grinned at them. “We’ve got to get you dressed first. No scientist does experiments in their nightclothes.” His inner Jack voice said, ‘ _Well now that’s a bold face lie there Hombre and you know it. How many times have you gotten outta bed and started experimenting or not even gotten dressed for bed?_ ’

Mac was pulled out of his thoughts by Cassie yelling, “I’ll race you slowpokes!” Kyle took off close on her heels with Mac jogging behind her. The twin’s bedrooms were off the living room with Cassie’s room on the right, Kyle’s on the left and a shared bathroom in the middle. Rose had set the kid’s clothes out for them before she had left and Cassie quickly began changing.

Kyle however brought Mac his clothes, “Can you get me something else Uncle Mac? I don’t lik-ed those.”

“I don’t like those,” Mac corrected automatically.

“Good, now get me something else,” Kyle demanded. When Mac just looked at him and didn’t move Kyle added. “Please?”

With a shake of his head Mac headed into Kyle’s room. The room was painted a light blue with airplanes everywhere. Kyle led him over to the closet, “Can I wear clothes like yours?”

“Sure Bud, if you have any,” Mac slid the door open and looked through the clothes hanging up he selected a grey shirt like the old Army shirt he had on and a pair of jeans. Handing it to Kyle he asked, “So uh, do you need any help?” Kyle shook his head and started stripping out of his night clothes. Mac took that as his cue to leave. While the kids changed Mac took that time to look over the list Rose had made. She suggested letting them watch TV, play on their iPad, or get out toys.

The clicking of heels announced the presence of Cassie. When she rounded the corner he saw that she had put on a pink gown with heels on. “Can you button me, please ma’am.”

“Since I’m a guy you would address me as sir, and I’m pretty sure that’s not what your mom left out for you to wear today.”

“Well I’m the Queen and I say I can wear this. But you can be my prince if you want to.”

“How about you can wear this, but if we leave the house you’ll change?”

“Okey dokey! Now will you button me please Prince Mac.”

Laughing gently, “Of course I will your majesty.” He buttoned the top button for her. “So let’s go see what your brother is going.

She grabbed his hand, “Hey Uncle Mac?”

“Yes?”

“Did you know that me and Kyle are twins? That means that we were in Mommy’s tummy at the same time. I wanted more room, but he kept crowding me so we had to be born-ed early.” After spending a month living with them Mac had finally gotten used to the information dump that the twins often did, so he just agreed. Walking into the living room Kyle had gotten out the blocks and was busy creating, something. Cassie stopped dead. “I wanted to play with the blocks!” She said as she put her tiny fist on her hip.

“I thought you wanted to play Queen?” Mac asked.

“I can do both!”

“How about we all play with blocks?” Mac suggested, “Then we can see who can build the largest tower, or castle, or something.” The kids had a rather large collection of Lego blocks of all shapes and sizes. Mac and Cassie went and sat with Kyle who already had a pile of blocks in front of him.

Cassie scooped out an equal amount and set about making herself a castle. Mac looked into the box and started thinking about what all he could make. “I need that one!” Kyle called breaking the silence, while pointing to a block his sister held.

Rolling his eyes, Mac said, “Let’s share. There are enough blocks here for everybody to have what they need.

“Fine,” Kyle huffed as he continued to eye one of the blocks in his sister’s pile. Mac spotted a similar one and handed it to the little boy. Mac decided he was going to try to make a ‘Flying Fortress’. He had the end assembled before the peacefulness disappeared.

“Quit copying Uncle Mac!” Cassie demanded of her brother.

“I’m not copying him!” Kyle half-yelled indigently. “You’re copying him!”

Mac looked at what both children had built and well, they were similar in shape to what he was building. “It’s ok, I don’t mind if either of you want to copy me, or if you don’t, that’s fine to.”

“See!” Kyle said all smart like. “Uncle Mac don’t care.” In response Cassie stuck her tongue out. Pointing at his sister Kyle half-yelled, “She stucked her tongue out at me!”

“Now Cassie….”

“Quit being such a little baby tattle tale. Momma said…”

Mac’s phone chose that time to chime with an incoming message. Thinking it could be important he left the twins to argue and jogged to grab his phone off the kitchen island where he had left it. It was a message from Rose, ‘If they start arguing or getting on your nerves you can always take them to the park to play. Or load up the bikes, all four will fit in the bed of the truck. Hope things are going well.’ Walking back into the living room where the twins were still bickering he called to them, “Hey give me a smile, I’m going to send your mom a picture.” Both of the twins quit arguing and gave him mega-watt smiles. He snapped the picture and sent it to Rose. Looking at the clock he made a decision. “If you hurry up and pick up this mess, we’ll pick-up lunch, eat it in the park and then ride our bicycles around for a little bit afterwards. How does that sound?”

Cheers went up from both kids and they started running around picking up the toys that they had drug out. In no time the living room looked so much better. They gathered in front of him, “We’re ready!” Cassie said vibrating with excitement.

Kyle looked at his sister, “Cass, I think you wanna change.”

She looked perplexed and looked down remembering her Queen dress. With a giggle she said, “I’m such a silly billy, Uncle Mac can you unbutton me?”

Mac did as requested, and the little girl scampered off. Kyle sighed, “We might as well have a seat Uncle Mac. She takes forever. Daddy said that I have to get used to it cause it’s a girl thing.”

Trying not to laugh out loud Mac followed Kyle to the couch. When Mac sat the little boy quickly scrambled into Mac’s lap and laid his head on Mac’s chest, “When’s Mommy and Daddy gonna be back. I miss them.” Mac wrapped his arms around the little boy.

“I know, but I bet they’ll be back before you know it.” Deciding that changing the subject was best he asked, “So where do you want to eat for lunch?”

“McDonalds!” He cheered, “No, Aunt Kimber says it’s icky. Ummm, let me think.” He sat there tapping his finger to his lips.

While Kyle was thinking Mac was making a plan. His inner Jack joked, ‘ _Well there’s a first time for everything._ ’ They could to go to Griffith Park, it had nice bike trails, and a whole lot of other stuff for kids to do, he knew the area because he liked to run the trails there, and it was close to his house just in case he needed to grab something really quick, a win-win in his book.

Just then Cassie came running into the living room outfitted in the clothes that her mom had laid out for her, a short dress with leggings. “I’m ready,” she announced her hair all over the place.

“Umm, why don’t you bring me your hair brush so I can brush both of your hair, and maybe a headband or something to keep the hair out of your eyes?” Mac wasn’t sure what the protocol was for pulling hair back. He knew sometimes Riley wore it down, sometimes it was up, he couldn’t detect a pattern to it, but figured that if Cassie was going to be out playing that she needed to keep her hair out of her face.

“Uggg,” she groaned. “Fine!” She stomped back to the bathroom. With a little fumbling and an aborted phone call to Riley, Mac got her hair brushed and up in a half way decent pony tail. At least it looked decent to him. Then it was time to tackle Kyle’s bed hair. Finally, both of the twins were ready to go to the park. While they clambered into their booster seats, Mac loaded the bikes into the back of the truck, and even added Reese’s so he could ride with them. He almost forgot to grab the helmets, but Kyle leaned out of the truck to remind him.

As they backed out of the driveway, Mac told the kids of his plan. “So how does this sound? We are going to get some of the best hamburgers in the city, then go to Griffith Park and eat them. After eating we can either ride our bikes or play on the playground, or do something else!

Cheers arose from the back seat, and with a smile on his face he set out for the park. At the drive thru, the twins couldn’t decide if they wanted fruit or fries for their sides, so Mac got one of each. Then they started complaining about having to share. Finally Cassie told Kyle, “Remember what Mommy says, get what you get, and don’t throw a fit!” The two sat in silence after that reminder.

Mac found a good parking spot that was close to one of the playgrounds and the bike riding track. Mac picked up their food and they found a nearby picnic table. After setting the food out Cassie spoke up and asked, “So who’s saying the blessing?”

Mac drew a blank, the only time that anyone said grace was when he was visiting Jack’s family and usually one of them said it, so he was thankful when Kyle started chanting, “Me! Me! Me!”

Cassie frowned at her brother, “But you can’t just say, ‘let’s eat’ that’s not a blessing. Mommy said so.”

“Fine!” Kyle shot back. “Close your eyes Uncle Mac. Dear Lord, I want to pray for all the people who are sick on their birthday, and all the ones that are sick and in the hospital, and all the sick animals. And be with Mommy and Daddy and Grandpa and…” Kyle paused.

“And Uncle Mac!” Cassie hissed at her brother.

“And Uncle Mac! Amen! Dig in!” The little boy finished. Mac noticed that in that ‘blessing’ Kyle had not actually blessed the food. Laughing to himself, Mac took his first bite of his burger, and the flavors exploded in his mouth. He loved getting the hamburgers from Bozer’s former place of employment, they were the best in the city thanks to Bozer.

Both kids started eating like Mac hadn’t just fed them a couple of hours ago. It actually reminded him of eating with Jack. Kyle had barely eaten half of his food when he announced, “I’m full.”

“But you haven’t eaten most of your food.” Mac pointed out.

Kyle shrugged, “My belly is full of food. Can I go play now?”

Looking at Cassie, “Are you done too?” Mac asked the little girl.

She shook her head vigorously, “My food is yummy.” She proved it by taking a large bite out of an apple slice.

“I guess you can go play,” Mac said. He could see the playground from where he was sitting. “But if you get hungry, your food will be waiting. And I want you to stay where I can see you.”

“Yay!” Kyle shouted as he ran towards the playground.

“Ouch!” Cassie yelped after biting into a fry. “I burned my teeth on that fry!”

Mac struggled not to laugh. “Just get a drink, it’ll cool those teeth off.”

She pulled the juice box to her and took a few big gulps. With a dramatic sigh she said, “Yep, all better! Thank you Uncle Mac.” She pulled the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe the juice off. Mac chuckled thinking of all the times that Jack had done the same thing. As if by magic Mac’s pocket started buzzing.

Seeing that it was Jack he answered. “Hey Jack.”

“I was just called to make sure you didn’t need me to come over and let you out of a closet or something.” Mac could hear the TV playing in the background, and what sounded like Bozer’s off tune humming.

“Are you still at my house?” He asked suspiciously.

“What a friend can’t stop by…“

He was interrupted by a hand pulling on Mac’s arm. “Uncle Mac, Uncle Mac, Uncle Mac.” Mac looked down at Cassie tugging on his sleeve. “Can I go play? I’m done.”

Looking over he noticed that unlike her brother Cassie had eaten most of her food. Nodding for her to go play he tuned back into whatever Jack was prattling on about. “Sorry, I didn’t get any of what you just said. Cassie was talking to me.”

“So how’s that going?”

Mac smiled, “It’s going really well, we’re out at Griffith Park enjoying…” Mac’s voice trailed off when the wail of a kid rent the air. He stood up looking for his young charges, and saw Kyle at the bottom of a piece of playground equipment. “I’m going to have to call you back, Kyle just fell.” Hanging up on Jack, Mac took off running hoping that the young boy was ok, and cursing himself for not paying better attention.

Kneeling in front of the kid Mac looked him over. Kyle was laying on his side clutching his elbow wailing. Cassie was patting his back and a few other kids stood staring at what was going on. “Hey Buddy, It’s Uncle Mac. What happened?” Mac gently murmured to him as he smoothed Kyle’s back and helped the little boy sit up.

Gradually the wails subsided and stopped and Kyle tearfully looked up. “I was ‘tending to be a pilot like Daddy and I fellded.”

Helping Kyle sit up Mac tried to pull his hand off the wound so Mac could see how serious it was. Cassie piped up from where she was standing behind them, “It has bleed.”

Nodding Mac agreed, “Yes, it is bleeding. Can you move your hand Kyle?”

The little boy shook his head vigorously, “Uh-uah, it’ll hurt more!”

Mac was about to respond when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up a lady was handing a pack of wet wipes to him. Taking them he stammered out, “Thank you. I’ll get it back to you in a few minutes.”

She smiled at him, “No, you keep it hon.” Then looking up she called, “Mads, time to go!”

A dark headed little girl about the same age of the twins started walking towards the lady, “But Aunee! I wanna stay!”

“Well I don’t, so tough tookies. Let’s go.” She put her arm around the little girl and they walked off.

Turning his attention back to Kyle he scooped the little boy up. Kyle laid his head on Mac’s shoulder as Mac carried him back to the picnic table and Cassie followed close behind. Carefully setting him in a clear spot on the table, Mac gently pulled Kyle’s hand away so he could see the damage. Kyle had a nice scrape on his elbow, but Mac was thankful that it’s wasn’t bleeding heavily. Taking a wet wipe, he gently cleaned the scrape as Kyle hissed and whimpered, but didn’t move. “That better?” He asked Kyle. The little boy nodded his head. Mac moved his arm around to make sure that he hadn’t done any serious damage, but it didn’t look like he had. Mac looked around for something to use as a bandage, and remembering that there was a handkerchief back in the truck he assigned Cassie to keep an eye on her brother then quickly made the trip there and back.

Kyle had quit crying as he watched Mac bandage his arm. First the bandana was folded, then Mac took the plastic from their meal and used that to cover the bandana. Then he wrapped the whole thing in a piece of silver duct tape. “Look Cassie! My arm looks so cool!” He flung his arms around Mac. “Thank you Uncle Mac!” Not to be left out Cassie started hugging the both of them.

“Ok, who is ready to ride bikes?” Mac asked the kids.

“Me!” They both screeched, right into Mac’s ear.

Mac smiled through the ringing in his ears, “Okay you guys clean up the lunch mess and I’ll get the bikes out.” As he walked to the truck to get the bikes Mac noticed that Kyle was eating what was left of his food. The twins did a great job of cleaning up and soon they were touring the park on their bikes. After riding for a couple of hours Mac noticed that the kid’s energy was finally giving out. “Are you guys ready to head home?” He asked and got two reluctant nods of the head.

They had been on the road for less than ten minutes when Mac noticed that they had both fallen asleep in their seats. Reaching the house, he parked, put the bikes away and then unlocked the door and went back to carry the kids in. He decided to lay them down on the couch so that it would be easier to wake them for dinner. Neither child woke up as Mac gently covered them with a blanket from the back of the couch. With a sigh he sat on the other end of the couch, and let out a large yawn. As Mac sat there he wondered what it would be like if this was his life: to have a wife and child waiting for him at home. He knew it most likely wasn’t in the cards for him, heck his dad had left to ‘protect’ him, and most children grew up to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Plus, he didn’t think he could leave a wife and kids to go on the missions that he went on not knowing if he would come back sometimes. But deep down in his heart he longed for someone to show him that kind of family love. The type of love that he secretly longed for.

_Buzz, buzz, buzz_ , Mac’s phone in his pocket woke him from his unplanned nap. Pulling the device out he saw that is was Reese, checking in. His text read, ‘At the hospital. Her dad’s doing ok right now. Kimber should be there about 10 or so. How’re the kids?’

The phone must have woken the kids as well because two sets of bleary eyes looked up at him. Their hair was tousled adorably, so Mac snapped a shot, and sent it with the caption, ‘Just woke up from a post bike riding nap. Things are going well.’

Putting his phone away he looked at the twins. “So, what do we want for supper?”

“I wanna a hamburger.” Kyle said around a yawn.

Cassie rolled her eyes, “Dummy, that’s what we had for lunch.”

“Cassie, don’t call your brother dummy, please.” Mac warned.

Cassie looked at Mac, and used her full puppy dog eyes, “Uncle Mac, can we make pizza’s here? I think we gotted all the stuff.”

“Yeah!” Kyle exclaimed. “Can we do the ones where we can make our own? Please? We can help you!” Cassie nodded vigorously

Mac couldn’t say no to the two sets of puppy dog eyes, “Sure, if we have everything.” The children cheered. “But before we start we need to wash our hands. Then I need to re-badge Kyle’s elbow.”

“But this looks cool!” Kyle protested grabbing his bandage protectively.

“I promise to put a super cool band-aid on it.” Mac negotiated.

“Okay.” Kyle said glumly.

The kids started to run to the bathroom, but Cassie stopped, “Hey Uncle Mac, when we gonna do the chemical reaction?”

_Shoot!_ He had forgotten about the experiment that he had promised them if they were good, and they had both been excellent. He was going to have to do what he did best, improvise, “After I re-bandage Kyle’s elbow, wash your hands and it will be waiting for you in the kitchen.”

“Yippie! She cheered as she dashed to the bathroom.

They all trooped into the bathroom where Mac got Kyle tended to, then Mac quickly went into the kitchen and scoured the cabinets for an experiment that he could show them. He had done the elephant toothpaste with them, Mentos and Coke, the baking soda and vinegar, and …A thought hit him, if they had copper bottomed pots or some pennies he could make them shiny again. Looking in the cupboard he found the vinegar, spotted the salt sitting on the… shoot the pizza! ‘ _How could you have forgotten the pizza Mac_?’ He berated himself. Opening the fridge he hoped that he would find some store bought dough that he could get out to rise while he did the experiment with the kids. He found some more gumbo that looked more like a science experiment, but no dough. He shot a quick text to Bozer for a simple recipe when he realized that it was to quiet. The twins should have been back by then, as it didn’t take that long to wash hands. He didn’t hear any screaming or yelling, so he quietly made his way back to their bathroom.

“Uncle Mac’s not gonna like you doing that,” came Cassie’s voice from the bathroom.

“Then don’t tell him,” replied Kyle.

“Don’t tell me what?” Asked Mac, as he approached the children.

“Nothing,” They chorused innocently, as they stood together in the doorway. He could see some wet spots from where they had washed their hands, but whatever they were up to he couldn’t see, and right now he didn’t really care. His phone dinged, pulling it out he saw that it was Bozer, and that he had sent Mac the asked for pizza recipe.

“Since you both now have clean hands, let’s go get the pizza dough going, and then we’ll do our experiment. How does that sound?”

“Yay!” The kids cheered as they raced passed him into the kitchen. He was tempted to go see what they had gotten up to in the bathroom, but there was too much to do right then.

With the kids helping with the stirring and the kneading Mac soon had the pizza dough rising in the oven. Cooking was just science after all. “Ok so I promised you an experiment,” Mac said as he pulled out the vinegar, salt, old pan, and several pennies he had found around the house. “We are going to be making all of this shiny again.”

Cassie wrinkled her nose, “Those used to be shiny?” She asked as she pointed to the nasty looking pennies. The disgust in her voice was evident.

Mac chuckled, “Yes, they were, and they will be again. Hop up on your stools and we’ll get busy. Mac lightly salted the bottom of the tarnished copper pot, then he gently poured the vinegar over it rubbing slightly the pot started to shine.

“Wow!” The little girl breathed.

“I wanna do it!” Her brother screeched.

As Mac explained what was causing the reaction the kids had a blast cleaning up the pennies. Mac glanced into the oven where he had the dough rising. Bozer had said to wait until it was doubled in size. It looked like it might have, so Mac pulled it out of the oven and separated it into three smaller balls of dough.

“Okay we’re going to….” He trailed off as he read the directions that Bozer had sent. “To make sure we put down some flour to roll out our dough on.

“Are we going to use that wood pin thingie that Mommy uses sometimes?” Kyle asked as he poked at his lump of dough.

“We have little ones for our play dough,” Cassie volunteered. “I’ll get them!’ She jumped off her stood and ran for the toys, her hands still covered in flour. Mac resisted the urge to face-palm, only because his hands were also covered in flour. Soon she came running back holding two small rolling pins. “Here you go” she told her brother, as she handed him one. They both started towards their balls of dough.

“Stop!” Mac commanded loudly. Both their eyes got wide. Mac hardly ever used that tone of voice, especially with them, but he didn’t want the pizza contaminated. “We’ve got to wash them first, just like you would your hands.” They nodded solemnly and let Mac wash the toys. Soon the three of them had their crusts to their liking. Mac’s was a bit thicker, and the twins had spots where you could almost see through. Mac set the sauce, cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni, bell peppers, onions, black olives, and sausage out for the kids to create their own.

“Yours looks yummy, Uncle Mac.” Cassie said as she popped another olive into her mouth.

“Leave some olives for the rest of us,” Mac felt like he had been repeating that same sentence over and over just substituting the ingredient.

“But I’m done,” Cassie whined.

“Okay if you’re done, then start cleaning up,” Mac told her. He was still putting the finishing touches on his pizza. Looking over at Kyle the little boy was dumping his cheese on top.

“I’m done too,” Kyle added.

Mac looked at the twin’s pizzas. They were a bit lumpy in places with globs of sauce here and there. The kitchen looked like a flour bomb had gone off, but as he finished up the kids were doing a great job of cleaning it all up. He looked over Bozer’s instructions. ‘Make sure to use parchment paper so they won’t stick, and easy cleanup.’ Mac found the parchment paper carefully slid the pizzas on the sheet of paper and slid them into the hot oven. He set the timer then asked the kids, “Want to go in the living room and play a game while the pizza cooks?” The twins cheered with joy.

The three of them had been playing Candyland for about ten minutes when Mac smelled something burning just before the smoke alarm went off. Both kids cried out and slapped their hands over their ears. Mac yelled to them over the blaring alarm, “Stay here, I’ll check.” Mac made his way into the kitchen where smoke was drifting out of the oven. He hit the vent on the exhaust fan and opened the windows, and quickly disabled the fire alarm. Mac saw Cassie peek around the corner. Pointing towards the living room, “Go stay with your brother.” He told her firmly.

Cassie nodded, “I’ll make an eye on him.”

As she disappeared from sight. Mac shook his head at her getting her sayings mixed up, again. With a grimace at what he might find Mac hit the light to see into the oven and peered in. The parchment paper was curled up and black, and the dough in the pizza had sagged between the wires in the oven racks. With exhaustion creeping in, Mac rubbed his forehead as he pulled out his phone and hit Bozer’s number.

“Sup Roomie?” Bozer answered on the third ring.

“So I tried that pizza recipe.”

Before Mac had a chance to continue Bozer interrupted, “Don’t tell me that you caught the house on fire or something?” With a sigh, Mac snapped a picture of the chaos inside the oven and sent it. “Dayum. I don’t remember putting that into the instructions. You should have put a pan under the parchment paper.”

Mac groaned, “Then why didn’t you say that, Boz?”

“Sorry, I forgot who I was sending the recipe to. Next time I’ll just come over.” Bozer sounded apologetic.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too.” Mac sighed and leaned up against the counter as he continued massaging his temple with his free hand. “Guess we’re going to order something in. I’m bushed.”

“If I was you I’d probably be passed out in the grass by now with the tiny terrors using my back as a trampoline.” Bozer quipped.

Laughing at his friend Mac replied, “I better get going before they get any ideas. Thanks Boz.” Hanging up the phone he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and ambled back into the living room where the two had continued their game without him.

He sat on the floor with them grabbing the iPad off the couch. “So, our pizzas are not quite fit for human consumption.”

“What does that word mean, con-up-tion?” Kyle asked struggling to pronounce the word.

With a smile, Mac explained, “It means “to eat”. I’m saying we can’t eat the pizza’s we made. So what do you guys want to eat?”

“I still want pizza!” Cassie pouted, crossing her little arms, and sticking out her lip.

Mac looked at Kyle, “Can we get breadsticks? I like breadsticks!”

“Can we get the s’mores pizza too?” Cassie asked her eyes huge.

Mac had to agree with Jack, kids were definitely con artists, “We can get breadsticks _and_ a s’mores pizza if we all agree to share the regular pizza, and because you both behaved very well today.”

Kyle held up his arm, “And I didn’t cry too much when I got my boo-boo.”

“You were very brave,” Mac agreed.

“Why don’t you pick out another game while I call our pizza order in,” Mac suggested. They both went rushing for the bookshelf that held all the games. “Hey, hey, I think you guys forgot something first.” Mac said pointing at Candyland lying on the floor.

“Oopsie Daisy!” Cassie said with a giggle.

Once Mac got the pizza ordered the twins played Jenga, while Mac cleaned up the pizza disaster in the oven. He had just finished with the last little bit of flour when the the pizza was delivered. As the twins cleaned up the game Mac got out plates, cups, and then dished out the pizza.

“Can we watch a movie and eat our pizza in here?” Kyle asked, “I promise to be careful. Please?” He drew out the please and soon Cassie joined in.

The kids really were con artists, but Mac gave in, “Sure, but we have to be very careful not to spill.” The twins cheered, so Mac set the food up on the floor, so if there was a spill it would be an easy one to clean up. Once everybody had their food on their plate Mac turned on the TV, “So what do you want to watch?”

“Monster Trucks!” They shouted in unison. Mac typed the title in and a graphic of a blue truck with tentacles coming out from under the hood popped up. “Monster Trucks, Monster Trucks, Monster Trucks,” they chanted. Mac hit play. The movie opened with a truck traveling to an oil drilling site. Taking a bite of his pizza, Mac already didn’t like the movie. Roughly an hour and a half later as the main guy and his girl drive off into the sunset Mac had to admit, it was a pretty cute movie.

“I wanna watch it again!” Cried Cassie.

“I wanna watch something else,” Kyle complained.

“How about we clean up, get into our night clothes, and brush our teeth.” Both of the kids immediately started pouting. “I haven’t finished,” Mac warned. “After that we’ll watch another movie!”

“Yay!” They squealed as they jumped up and down.

The two were well behaved as Mac helped them clean up and they both quickly changed into their night clothes. “Can you help me brush my teeth Uncle Mac?” Cassie asked as she tried to reach the pink sparkly toothbrush at the back of the sink.

“Sure,” He replied as he applied toothpaste to the brush and handed it to Cassie. As she was brushing her teeth Kyle came in and went straight to the toilet and started peeing.

“Eww, Kyle, that’s inapopiate! Uncle Mac’s in here!” Of course Cassie said this with a mouth full of toothpaste splattering it all over the counter and sink.

Mac sighed, “It’s inappropriate and it’s fine Cassie. I’m going to clean this up while you finish brushing.”

“It’s ‘cause Uncle Mac’s a boy. Just like I’m a boy. And boys can use the bathroom at the same time.” Kyle explained to his sister.

Seeing that another argument was about to get started Mac intervened, “Cassie finish brushing your teeth, Kyle brush yours. When you’re done Cassie go ahead and use the bathroom, and I’ll be waiting for you in the living room. Don’t forget to wash your hands when you’re done going to the bathroom.” Once both the kids nodded their understanding Mac dragged his yawning self into the rest of the house cutting off all the lights, and dimming the lights in the living room, better for movie watching. He settled on the couch, and tried to find something kid friendly that wouldn’t be too boring or else he would fall asleep. ‘Secondhand Lions’ caught his attention, he thought he remembered Jack saying that he had watched that with his cousins. Cassie and Kyle soon came trudging out of the bathroom and each snuggled up on either side of Mac. Pressing play they watched as the movie began. While the movie was as good as Jack said it was it didn’t keep Mac from falling asleep. First Cassie fell asleep on his side, then Kyle leaned over and fell asleep in Mac’s lap. Try as he might, it was really hard for Mac to keep his eyes open, and finally they slid closed and he joined the twins in their slumber.

***********************************************

Kimber had had a long day, and she felt exhausted as she fished her suitcase out of the Uber and walked up to her brother’s front door. She had been woken up at five in the morning to her brother asking her to come and stay with the kids. She really didn’t mind coming to take care of them and she could write her articles anywhere so she caught the first flight out that she could. But the plane was late taking off and as a result she had almost missed her connecting flight. Finally, she landed at LAX only to have to navigate through construction and trying to find an Uber. By the time that she arrived at her brother’s house she was ready to crawl into a bed, any bed and sleep.

Using the spare key that Robbie had sent her for emergencies just like this she quietly opened the door and entered the house. Robbie had told her that his, according to Rose, ‘really hot, in a cute way’ friend was going to be watching the kids until she got there. Now that she thought of it, maybe he would like to have a drink before he left. But what was his name again… Matt? Max? No, Mac! “Mac?” She called quietly, not wanting to wake the kids, but also not wanting to scare the hottie. “Mac,” she called again.

Walking into the living room she came upon the cutest sight she had ever seen. The twins were curled around Mac and all three were fast asleep. Smiling she snapped a picture and sent it to Robbie and Rose, then also to a couple of girlfriends to show how cute her brother’s friend was. She debated waking him up, but he was just too cute snuggled up with the twins. So she quietly placed a blanket over the trio and went to the guest room to join the others in dream land. 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N2: Liked it? Found a problem? Let me know? (heck let me know what your favorite color is, lol)
> 
> And next week I shall have another installment of my teacher 'verse up! 'Stubborn as a Mule' (Mac's not felling great, but in typical Mac fashion he decides to power through it)


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